ILS officials adjust length of school day

A brutal second half of winter has forced Inland Lakes Schools’ officials to adjust the length of the school day for the remainder of the school year.

By MARK SPENCLEYmark@cheboygantribune.com

A brutal second half of winter has forced Inland Lakes Schools’ officials to adjust the length of the school day for the remainder of the school year.To this point, ILS has had six full snow days, two half days, and one two-hour delay. All of these closures and delays has landed the district on the wrong side of the 30-hour allotment schools are given for bad weather and other necessary closures. “We have had numerous snow days and need to make a proactive adjustment to our schedule to compensate,” said Fred Osborn, ILS superintendent. The adjustment will start Monday, when time is tacked on to the end of the elementary school day.“Currently our elementary students end their day at 2:50, load buses and the buses move to the secondary, which ends at 3:00 and loads those students,” explained Osborn. “We will reverse the order, picking up the secondary students first, at 3:00 still, then moving the buses to the elementary to collect those students at 3:10.”This schedule change will provide the district an additional 20 minutes of instructional time per day for 59 days to the elementary, totaling over 19 hours. Though the elementary school day will be slightly extended for the next few months, secondary students will not be affected. “Secondary had more time due to the later pickup time compared to elementary,” Osborn said. “In addition, secondary does not have recesses, and they are able to count the 5 minute pass time between most classes.” Along with extending the school day, the district is carrying a pocket ace, May 24, which can be used as an instructional day if necessary.“We put an extra day into the schedule the Friday before Memorial Day,” explained Osborn. “We’re planning on having school, but if we don’t use all of our snow days, we’ll announce in early May that we won’t be having school that day.”